


If I Make Mistakes Please Forgive Me

by sophoklesworld



Series: Come Rain or Shine [3]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Coming Out, D&D, Multi, This is kinda cute, i guess, ot3: monster hunting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-24
Updated: 2017-11-24
Packaged: 2019-02-06 08:24:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,922
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12813537
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sophoklesworld/pseuds/sophoklesworld
Summary: That wasn’t even Steve’s point — his point was this: He had a fulfilling life.





	If I Make Mistakes Please Forgive Me

**Author's Note:**

> Part 3; which I didn't expect would happen anytime soon.  
> As the rest of the series, this title is taken from the song "I Do Believe (I Fell In Love)" By Donna Summer.
> 
> This fic got out of hand very fast. I don't know where I intended to go with this but it definitely wasn't _this_.
> 
> I hope you enjoy it!

Steve wasn’t perfect, okay. But who was, these days. Well, maybe Nancy, but she didn’t count!

 

And he had a fulfilling life, no matter what people like Tommy or Billy said (not so quietly) behind his back. It still hurt sometimes, being the center of 'bad' attention. But it wasn’t that he couldn’t cope with it. He didn’t really care either. He just wasn’t used to it. What hit him worse were all the snide comments about Nancy and Jonathan. It probably cut him deeper than them but he could see that remarks about him always seemed to shake them more than him in return. He didn’t like it, but he figured if they all had the same aversion to defend themselves, maybe they shouldn’t defend each other either for now. This was High School after all. In _Hawkins_. And the longer none of them painted an even bigger target on their backs the better.

That wasn’t even Steve’s point — his point was this: He had a fulfilling life.

A year ago he had seen himself going off to college, a sports scholarship in place and finally getting out of this hell house he still had to call home.  
Around the time of the second monster invasion, though, he had started to realize that leaving would mean to also leave Nancy behind. And at that point, Nancy had been pretty much the only person supporting him and keeping him going. He had started to panic and the thought of staying another year — waiting so they could leave together — started to become appealing.

Now — now he couldn’t imagine leaving. His parents were still actively ignoring him, his house was still mostly empty. Nevertheless, everything had changed fundamentally.

 

It wasn’t only Nancy and Jonathan, even though they were a big part, admittedly.

It just wasn’t as hard to get out of bed anymore, even in the nights he had no one to share the bed with. He still had nightmares in those nights, but there were things to look forward to.

Like — and he couldn’t believe he actually thought that — _D &D_!

 

In the beginning, he played stupid when the kids explained everything to him. It had also astounded him that Mike actually had it in him to think up more monster stories after the horror show they had found themselves in twice already. After a while, though, he found himself intrigued by the stories and really got into the game — more than he would have ever expected.

He didn’t tell that the Great Dungeon Master and His Dipshit Slaves, though. Not even Dustin. Especially not Dustin.

Only Nancy and Jonathan knew that he liked the game, and that was because they were perceptive not because he told them.

 

So, here he was. Sitting in the Byers’ living room, where the D&D nights had migrated to, after Attack Number Two. Being happy. And making a Big Mistake.

 

And his mistake was — predictably, if he really thought about it — that he wasn’t paying attention.

 

Here he was, marveling his fulfilling life (and being distracted by Jonathan’s hands where he scribbled something on a piece of paper and the concentrated frown on Nancy’s face when she read something — god, he really was pathetic, not even thinking about the curves of their bodies and having erotic day dreams, just how pretty they were and how he longed to hold their hands) and not paying attention to what Dungeon Master Mike asked him. 

 

"Steve! Who do you wanna take with you into the room?"

"Both of them", Steve said unthinkingly, still staring across the table to the couch where Jonathan and Nancy were studying.  
"What?" Mike’s surprised exclamation made Steve look over at him and his own words filtered through to him. This had probably not been the question at all. He saw how Nancy's kid brother looked between the three older teenagers with a confused expression before realization dawned on his face.

"Oh god, gross!" Mike had paled a little.

 _Shit_.

"What’s wrong, Mike?", El’s voice was full of concern and her distress rang through the kitchen and into the living room. Nancy and Jonathan looked up, alarmed. Steve could probably be lucky that Hopper’s El-specific senses were not heightened enough for him to hear her from out back where he helped Joyce with some garden work. But now, Jonathan and Nancy got off the couch to come over.

 _Fuck_.

Steve had no idea how to backtrack now. The three of them had planned to keep their whole relationship to themselves for now. And Steve had fucked up. As always. He had fucked up because he didn’t pay attention.

"Nothing’s wrong", Steve tried to interject. "The little asshat just realized something he shouldn’t worry about."  
Looking around the room and taking in every kid’s face, Steve gauged their expressions.

Will was very observant and his intense eyes were trained on Steve like he could unlock the secrets of the universe if he stared enough. Steve was certain it would take him only another few seconds until he had every answer he wanted.

El still only had eyes for Mike who looked like he might get sick, his gaze flicking between Nancy, Steve and Jonathan. Max was looking between Steve and Mike a little clueless, Lucas sneaked a look at her, trying to find out if she knew more than him. When he found she didn’t, he deflated and just looked at Mike. Dustin seemed the closest, understanding it had something to do with Nancy, Jonathan and him, because he didn’t look at Mike but between the three of them instead.

"What’s going on?", Nancy asked in that moment, her hand landing on Mike’s shoulder.

Steve would have laughed at the way Mike leaned away from her if he hadn’t just caused a major problem and if it didn’t hurt so much that Mike seemed disgusted by them.

"Steve just kinda told us about your — arrangement." Mike pressed out. He didn’t sound disgusted. More like pissed, actually. And way too grown up for Steve’s taste.

" _What? Steve!_ " Again, Steve would have laughed at the matching horror on Jonathan and Nancy’s faces if he wasn’t so busy shrinking back in his chair, hoping no one could see him there. It didn’t work. Their eyes bore into his skull.

"What do you mean, arrangement?", Lucas asked.

There was a pause and Steve saw a grin blooming over Dustin’s face from the corner of his eyes as the boy finally understood.

"Cool", Dustin whispered, followed by this awful _'arrrrrrr'_ sound none of them could make him stop doing.

"He means that they’re all dating each other." Will’s voice was calm, didn’t betray any emotion — in real Byers’ fashion.

There was a stunned silence while the other three kids tried to understand and everyone else digested this.

Nancy and Jonathan had abandoned glaring at Steve in favor of worriedly looking around the table, anxiously awaiting the dumbasses judgement.

"That’s seriously cool", Dustin said again, "Why didn’t you tell us before? Wait, how long have you guys been dating?"

"Why haven’t you said anything before? Why did you want to keep it a secret?" Mike’s voice was accusing and he looked at each of them with his piercing eyes, mouth set in a thin line.

It was Nancy who answered. "We’ve been dating for almost six months now."

That statement caused indignant outcries but Nancy forged ahead.

"We didn’t know how to tell you guys. We didn’t really talk about telling anyone, to be honest. But we would have started with you. Right, Jonathan? Steve?"

They nodded agreement, both relieved she did the talking. "But, Mike, we’re living in Hawkins — people everywhere are pretty difficult with this kind of relationship, but can you imagine _Hawkins_? High School is a horror as it is."

"I didn’t mean telling the whole school, I meant us! The Party. Why didn’t you tell _us_? You should have!"

"So", Steve started hesitantly, "does that mean you guys don’t have a problem with it?"

"Why should we?" Dustin grinned at Steve. "As long as you guys are happy, and if I maybe get another date with Nancy at some point…" Steve wanted to flick Dustin’s hat off his head for that comment but Mike was faster, leaning over the table and punching Dustin in the arm.

"No one’s prostituting my sister!"

"Ouch, alright, alright! But don’t you think that’s her decision?"

"I do but she already has two lovers", Mike pulled a face after he said that, "as it seems, so she doesn’t need another one—"

"Guys!" This time, it was Jonathan interrupting. His voice was serious and he had only eyes for Will.

Steve didn’t realize he held his breath until Will smiled warmly at Jonathan and he released it.

"We’re fine with it", he said in his calm voice.

"Just don’t lie to us", Lucas said, looking at Steve.

"Guys, please", Max rolled her eyes at them, "You fought off Billy for me. And we were all fighting against Demodogs together. You didn’t honestly expect us to have a problem with it after the shit we’ve seen."  
Steve could barely believe their luck that these kids actually were more offended by not being in the know than anything else.

"Language", Steve said, absentmindedly, in the same moment someone said from the backdoor, "A problem with what?"

Everyone started and all eyes immediately were on Hopper who stood at the back entrance of the kitchen, sweating and dirty next to Joyce who had smudges in her face and looked at them curiously.

"Erm." Steve had felt guilty just a minute ago about letting the cat out of the bag in front of the kids. But if now the parents were to know — shit. Shit squared. Shit quadrupled. He’d have to dig his own grave.

"With Steve wanting to switch his D&D character", Mike put in helpfully and was rewarded with grateful glances from Nancy, Jonathan and Steve who’s eyes went back to the Chief right away, like a deer caught in the headlights.

Steve was aware that everyone was still staring at Hopper and that this probably wouldn’t help their situation.

"Exactly", he said, "being a Human Fighter is boring. So 7 months ago, don’t you think?"

He was just about to turn back to his game, mentally high-fiving himself for that joke, when El spoke, her voice soft but resolute.

"Nancy, Jonathan and Steve are all dating each other."

Steve closed his eyes, horrified but resigned, wishing the ground to open up. He wasn’t surprised, really. But it didn’t keep him from sending her a betrayed look. His expression was mirrored not only by Nancy and Jonathan but by every kid in the room.

El defended herself with a shrug and an apologizing expression. "I promised. No lies."

Steve wanted to argue. _This isn’t even about you. It isn’t your place_. But El was still so innocent, so clueless about life. He couldn’t hold it against her, couldn’t make her feel bad about something he rationally knew was the right thing to do — telling the truth, especially to friends and family (maybe excluding his parents from this statement).

No one argued with her. All of the kids had lived after their codex "friends tell friends the truth" forever and would probably understand her motivation better than anyone else.

So, Steve did the only thing that was left to do. He turned back to Hopper and Joyce.

Hopper seemed broken. Not broken in a depressed-broken way, but in a computer 'processing'-message kinda broken. His face was frozen mid-motion like he was still trying to comprehend the words.

Steve figured he’d need another minute and it was safe to await Joyce's reaction first.

She stood there, her mouth slightly open, looking at her oldest son in wonder.

"Mom?", Jonathan asked, uncertainty lacing his voice. From his periphery, Steve could see Will getting up and huddling close to Jonathan.

Joyce blinked. She took a deep breath and looked between the three older teenagers. "Okay", she said. And it was like her whole world view adjusted with this simple word. She had looked surprised, maybe scared before. Now, she had already accepted it as the norm. It may be another obstacle one of her sons threw in her way but she would fight to keep it where it was. Because that was who she was. A mother who loved her sons, who they were, who they could be. And she always protected them and would continue to do so until her dying day. Steve could hear all of this in this simple word. And he realized that this new obstacle were Nancy and him. It meant that they now were included in that protection (if they hadn’t been before). It warmed his heart and he felt a weight lifting off his chest. He looked at Nancy, who softly smiled back at him.

Jonathan and Joyce seemed to be trapped in each other’s eyes, both smiling (it was still something Steve couldn’t get enough of to see on Jonathan’s features) and with tears in their eyes. Suddenly, Joyce shook her head and the sentimental moment was broken.

"I just want you kids to be happy", Joyce said to all of them before nudging Hopper in the side who flinched.

It took him a moment to gather his bearings. "Alright. Okay." He sounded like he was adjusting to the idea. Steve took comfort in the fact that he wasn’t pulling his daughter out of the room yet. When he turned to El, though, Steve thought he might actually do that.

"Kiddo, from now on the promise excludes other people’s business, alright? What they", he gestured towards the older teenagers, "are doing on their own time is their business."

He waited for her to nod before he fixed Steve, Nancy and Jonathan one after the other with a glare. "PDA kept at a minimum level at all times. I do not want to have to deal with narrow-minded small town gossipers that worry about the — non-existent — safety of this town because of ridiculous reasons like that. And especially no PDA when the kids are around! You hear me? Otherwise you’re in for a night at the station."

It was a valid threat, but Steve had never even hoped to get off the hook so easily. They all nodded dutifully.

"Get back to your game now", the Chief dismissed them as he threw his arms in the air.

As he made his way to the door, everyone heard Hopper mutter under his breath "There’s monsters and parallel worlds in this town but these kids will be the death of me."

 

*  *  *

 

Nancy let herself fall onto Jonathan’s bed with a sigh. It was sleepover night at the Byers’ but since they accidentally came out today, the kids all voted for them to 'get a room' — only that one time, though. Joyce didn’t object. It proved again why Steve rightly chose her as his favorite.

"I cannot believe you told them!", Nancy exclaimed.

They didn’t really have a chance to talk about this whole endeavor before. Steve was sure he was going to be punished for that. Even though they had come out of it alive.

"I cannot believe we survived that", Jonathan voiced Steve’s thought. He was leaning against the door. "I didn’t expect them to be this good about it."

"Me neither. Then again, this is your mom we’re talking about. She’d do anything for you and Will. Still, I’m glad we made everyone promise not to tell Nancy’s or my parents." Steve grimaced as he sat down heavily next to Nancy. The thought alone was freaking him out. Currently, his parents didn’t really care about what he did. They never did as long as it was 'normal boy' things. He worried that something like dating his two closest friends would make them lose their tolerance.

"I’m sorry, I let it slip. I didn’t even actually say it. Your brothers are just so goddamn clever!", Steve apologized.

"You know, it’s okay. I think I actually feel better now." Steve turned to Nancy, his eyes wide.

"What?"

"No, she’s right", Jonathan said, lips twitching in his version of a small smile. He sat down on Steve’s other side. "I feel better, too. It’s like this weight has lifted off my chest. I was so worried what mom would say, I felt so guilty all the time and I really wanted to tell WiIl — I mean, I knew we couldn’t really tell them. But I’m happy they know."

"Honestly, I feel lighter, too, now that the kids and Hopper and Joyce know", Steve admitted. "I’m still sorry I caused this havoc; I didn’t even get around to ask you if you _wanted_ people to know, before I jumped the gun."

"Hey!", Nancy’s voice was soft and her hand found his. "You made a mistake. It was an accident. I forgive you." She looked at Jonathan for support.

" _We_ forgive you", Jonathan emphasized. Steve looked over at him. He was actually smiling now and Steve was blinded by its bright beauty. It was a soothing balm to his soul and he couldn’t help but lean in and kiss Jonathan. "You’re talented, Jonathan Byers. I barely feel guilty anymore", Steve grinned against Jonathan’s mouth.

"You’re an idiot, Steve Harrington", Nancy tugged at his hair to turn his head for a kiss of her own. Her voice was so fond it almost hurt.

"And you’re beautiful, Nancy Wheeler."

**Author's Note:**

> You can always let me know what you think and you're welcome to check out my [tumblr](www.sophoklesworld.tumblr.com)!
> 
> (I also made some edits for the second part of the series, you can find the link over there:P)


End file.
